REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Monitoring Report on the implementation of the 2018 Structural Reform Support Programme
Date: 2019-12-17
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU Member State, EU aid, EU financing, EU programme, administrative reform, economic convergence, economic reform, institutional reform, structural adjustment, sustainable development

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 17.12.2019 COM(2019) 641 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Monitoring Report on the implementation of the 2018 Structural Reform Support Programme {SWD(2019) 442 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
AND THE COUNCIL 

Annual Monitoring Report on the implementation of the 2018 Structural Reform 
Support Programme 

INTRODUCTION 

Since  2017,  the  European  Commission  has  been  managing  the  Structural  Reform 
Support  Programme  (SRSP),  which  is  a  dedicated  programme  with  a  budget  of  EUR 
222.8 million1 aimed at supporting Member States in the design and implementation of 
institutional, administrative and growth-enhancing reforms.  

Structural  reforms  are,  by  their  nature,  complex  processes,  and  their  design  and 
implementation require highly specialised knowledge and skills at every stage.  In some 
Member  States,  the  capacity  to  initiate  and  implement  structural  reforms  is  often 
inadequate to address the administrative, economic and social challenges that they entail. 

The  objective  of  the  SRSP  is  to  help  Member  States  address  these  challenges  and 
strengthen their capacity to prepare and implement growth-enhancing reforms, helping 
strengthen  public  institutions  and  administrations  and  improving  governance  processes 
and the performance and resilience of the economy and society at  large. The goal  is  to 
enhance  cohesion  and  improve  competitiveness,  productivity,  sustainable  growth,  job 
creation and investment. 

The present report provides an overview of the support funded under the 2018 SRSP 
cycle.  It  describes  the  process  of  selecting  and  implementing  projects  and  gives  an 
account of the results achieved so far by projects under both the 2017 and 2018 SRSPs. It 
also  describes  the  process  of  selection  and  implementation  of  support  measures  funded 
by voluntary transfers to the SRSP by Greece and Bulgaria2.   

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SRSP IN 2018 

2018  was  the  second  year  of  implementation  of  activities  under  the  SRSP.  Like  the  
first  year,  the  second  showed  that  there  is  high  demand  for  the  programme  from 
Member  States  –  24  Member  States  submitted  444  requests  for  support,  for  an 
amount estimated to be five times the available SRSP 2018 budget.   

When looking at requests for funding under the SRSP in 2018, the Commission assessed 
them  against  the  principles  and  criteria  established  in  the  SRSP  Regulation.  On  this 
basis, 146 requests from 24 Member States were selected.  

The distribution of these selected requests across the main policy areas was as follows:  

1  The  budget  increased  when  the  original  SRSP  Regulation  (EU)  2017/825  (OJ  L  129,  19.5.2017,  p.  1–16)  was 
amended (Regulation (EU) 2018/1671, OJ L 284, 12.11.2018, p. 3–5).  

2 In addition to the SRSP budget, Article 11 of the SRSP Regulation and Article 25 and 59 of the Common Provisions 
Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 enable the programme to be financed through additional voluntary contributions from 
Member  States  from  resources  provided  for  technical  assistance  at  the  initiative  of  the  Member  States  under  the 
European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  (ESI  Funds).  In  2018,  two  Member  States  (Greece  and  Bulgaria)  made 
voluntary transfers to the SRSP (C(2018) 3748 final and C(2018) 5435 final). 

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  24% in revenue administration and public financial management; 
  23% in growth and business environment (including climate and environment);  
  21% in labour market, education, health and social policy;  
  21% related to governance and public administration; and 
  11% related to financial services and access to finance. 

In line with the principle of sound financial management, requests were prioritised that 
allowed  for  quick  delivery  of  support  and  rapid  implementation  of  reforms  on  the 
ground,  and  requests  addressing  defined  objectives,  with  strong  expected  results  on 
the ground.  

93%  of  requests  selected  for  funding  under  the  2018  SRSP  relate  directly  to  the 
EU’s strategic priorities:  

  55%  relate  to  the  implementation  of  reforms  in  response  to  challenges 
(country-specific 

the  European  Semester  process 

highlighted 
recommendations and country reports);  

in 

  29%  relate  to  the  implementation  of  Union  priorities  (capital  markets  union, 

digital single market, energy union and climate, etc.);  
  6% relate to the implementation of Union law; and  
  3%  relate 

the 

to 
programmes.   

implementation  of  the  EU’s  economic  adjustment 

The remaining 7% are linked to the implementation of Member States’ own reforms. 

By 30 November 2019, 30% of the reform support projects implemented under the 2018 
SRSP  (not  including  voluntary  transfers  under  Art.  11  of  the  SRSP  Regulation)  had 
already been completed and 70% continued to be implemented on the ground. 

The largest proportion of support measures aims to:  

improve processes in tax administrations and enhance tax compliance (13%); 

 
  strengthen education and training schemes (9%); 
  digitalise public administration (8%);  
  promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector (8%);  
  make healthcare systems more accessible, effective and resilient (7%);  
  develop national and cross-border capital markets (5%). 

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PROGRESS IN RELATION TO THE PROGRAMME’S OBJECTIVES 

The  second  year  of  the  implementation  shows  that  the  SRSP  can  make  a  significant 
contribution  to  Member  States’  national  authorities  in  their  efforts  to  identify  and 
overcome certain structural weaknesses that prevent the design and implementation of 
reforms.  

For example, the programme has helped  review current law-making procedures (e.g. 
adopting a new law on the governance of state-owned enterprises), identify weaknesses 
and provide recommendations for improvements (e.g. recommendations on how to set 
objective  criteria  for  the  recruitment,  evaluation  and  promotion  of  judges).  The 
programme  has  also  helped  enhance  the  capacity  of  Member  States  to  define  more 
efficient  processes  and  methodologies  (e.g.  by  developing  a  quality  assessment  of 
teachers'  training),  and/or  to  progress  towards  more  effective  human  resource 
management (e.g. providing concrete transition initiatives related to talent management, 
strategic HR, and building a stronger innovation culture in the public service). 

Actions  selected  and  implemented  under  the  2018  SRSP  round  are  also  designed  to 
ensure European added value. This takes place through complementarity and synergies 
with  other programmes and policies at  national,  Union and international  level, and/or 
through their contribution to the promotion of mutual trust and cooperation between 
beneficiary  Member  States  and  the  Commission.  Actions  also  aim  to  allow  for  the 
development  and  implementation  of  solutions  that  address  national  challenges  but  also 
have  a  positive  impact  on  cross-border  or  Union-wide  challenges.  The  following 
support measures are illustrative examples:  

  support measures helping to identify bottlenecks in the implementation of the 

European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF); 

  support measures designed to ensure compliance with EU environmental law;  
  exchange  of  best  practices  with  Member  States  which  have  successfully 
implemented  spending  reviews  in  the  same  policy  areas  as  the  requesting 
Member State; 

  support to three different Member States in health system reform which aims to 
extend coverage and effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening programmes, in 
order to reduce the number of people with cancer. 

While  it  is  not  within  the  remit  of  this  report  to  illustrate  the  ultimate  effects  of  the 
reforms3  on  which  a  Member  State  may  have  embarked  as  a  result  of  the  support 
measures  provided  under  the  SRSP,  we  can  say  that  the  SRSP  is  on  track  when  it 
comes to delivering on its general objective.  

The support measures implemented under the first two rounds of the SRSP (in 2017 and 
2018)  are  contributing  to  the  design  and 
institutional, 
administrative and growth-enhancing reforms. 

implementation  of 

Among  the  projects  implemented  under  both  the  2017  and  the  2018  rounds,  123  have 
already helped to deliver concrete results, such as the following: 

  a new public internal audit strategy; 
 

recommendations on how to set objective criteria for the recruitment, evaluation 
and promotion of judges;  

3 According to Article 16 of the SRSP Regulation, the Commission shall provide an independent mid-term evaluation 
report with information on the achievement of the programme's objectives, the efficiency of the use of the resources 
and the programme’s European added value, as well as the continued relevance of objectives and actions. 

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  web-based, user-friendly tools for small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 
a Member State help the SMEs better understand and comply with the regulatory 
framework; 

 

  a comprehensive information framework for the national water regulator; 
  preparation and adoption of laws and regulations and the deployment of tools to 
contribute  to  the  quality,  accessibility  and  long-term  fiscal  sustainability  of  the 
health and long-term care systems;  
implementation of education reforms  based on mentoring, training and  enriched 
audiovisual material; 
recommendations to help implement a review of outpatient pharmaceutical public 
spending;  
implementation of a mid-term tax strategy; and 

 
  development of a medium-term strategy for a development bank. 

 

CONCLUSION 

The second year of implementation of the SRSP showed an increase in demand for the 
programme  from  the  Member  States,  24  of  which  submitted  444  requests  for 
support (up from 16 Member States submitting 271 requests for support under the 2017 
SRSP).  

Overall, the first 2 years of implementation of the SRSP have shown that the programme 
can  help  national  authorities  identify  and  overcome  structural  weaknesses  and 
bottlenecks when designing and implementing reforms. A number of specific examples 
of results and follow-up actions by governments demonstrate this. 

However, while the support measures are designed to  contribute to  the reform  process, 
effective follow-up of the actions, in terms of actual implementation of the reforms, 
remains the prerogative of the recipient Member State.  

The  Commission  will  continue  to  monitor  uptake  of  the  support  measures  and  the 
implementation  of  institutional,  administrative  and  growth-enhancing  reforms  in  the 
years to come.  

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